SADLER'S WELLS RIDING HIGH

Sadler’s Wells
(Painting : Susan Crawford)

LEADING SIRES
BY 2011 NORTHERN HEMISPHERE
GRADE/GROUP 1 WINNERS

Standing in U.S. and Europe

Stallion	Sire	G1 Winner
Galileo (Ire)	Sadler’s Wells	10
Montjeu (Ire)	Sadler’s Wells	8
Giant’s Causeway (USA)	Storm Cat	3
High Chaparral (Ire)	Sadler’s Wells	3
Mr. Greeley (USA)	Gone West	3
Oasis Dream (GB)	Green Desert	3
Dalakhani (Ire)	Darshaan	2
Danehill Dancer (Ire)	Danehill	2
Dubawi (Ire)	Dubai Millennium	2
Dynaformer (USA)	Roberto	2
Empire Maker (USA)	Unbridled	2
Exceed and Excel (Aus)	Danehill	2
Hawk Wing (USA)	Woodman	2
Lomitas (GB)	Niniski	2
Medaglia d’Oro (USA)	El Prado	2
Mineshaft (USA)	A.P. Indy	2
More Than Ready (USA)	Southern Halo	2
Northern Afleet (USA)	Afleet	2
Refuse To Bend (Ire)	Sadler’s Wells	2
Sakhee (USA)	Bahri	2
Samum (Ger)	Monsun	2
Selkirk (USA)	Sharpen Up	2
Smart Strike (USA)	Mr. Prospector	2
Tapit (USA)	Pulpit	2
Tiznow (USA)	Cee’s Tizzy	2
War Front (USA)	Danzig	2

Correct as at 21 November 2011 (Thoroughbred Daily News)

COOLMORE VS DARLEY : BATTLE OF THE TITANS

Click above to watch the Coolmore Stud Documentary 2011
(Image and Footage : Coolmore)

“Who’s Who in the Zoo?”

The battle for international supremacy in the thoroughbred world has developed a real “one-round-to-you, one-round-to-me” look to it. Ever since the official declaration of war by Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed, on their arch opponents, the Coolmore operation in 2006, some heavy punches have been traded.

The first three years undoubtedly belonged to Coolmore, and for as long as the dominance of their Emperor stallions, Sadler’s Wells and Danehill persisted, and for as long as this blood was denied to the Maktoums, it looked like one-way traffic (in Europe at any rate, the main theatre of battle). Nothing in the thoroughbred world though is forever, and with his strategies spanning both sides of the Atlantic, the emergence of Street Cry looked like pulling things back for “Sheik Mo”, though it has to be said, Coolmore still have on their hands, the champion sire of that realm, Giant’s Causeway. Enormous investment on the part of Dubai in the best prospects of their more recent generations in the United States, must have equipped Darley’s armoury in that part of the world with some real possibilities, but with the exception of Bernardini, who is an emerging force in his own right, the jury will have to wait. If we were in the tipping game, we’d have a few bob on Street Sense, the only horse in history to have won both the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile and the Kentucky Derby.

Back in Europe though, out of the blue came Dubawi and Shamardal for Darley, and they look like two of the best young sires around right now. Their supremacy with their first three year olds last year suggested an overwhelming dominance of the older division in 2011 Europe, but, we shall have to wait and see if that’s going to be the case. On the evidence alone, of this year’s three year old Classics, it seems the pendulum may have swung back Coolmore’s way, with four of the six “Guineas” contested in England, Ireland and France, falling to sons and daughters of Bill Oppenheim’s “best stallion in the world”, Galileo.

On Saturday, the Coolmore outfit’s dominance of this crop was as blantly evident as ever, in the renewal of the Investec Derby, in which Coolmore-connected horses landed first, second and fourth placings, though it should be noted the Queen’s third placed Carlton House is a son of Street Cry, gifted to her by Sheikh Mohammed. For the time being at least, the initiative lies in Ireland, though we suspect that Dubawi and Shamardal are that good, they won’t be lying down for long. Either way, it makes fascinating watching.

A VISIT WITH CURLIN, GIANT'S CAUSEWAY, A.P. INDY AND MORE...

Tapit
(Image : South Winds Thoroughbreds / USA PCE)

Video Updates from Kentucky…

In a continuation from yesterday’s video updates from Mick Goss, Alec Hogg and Barry Irwin in the US, here are a few more clips featuring visits with Curlin, Giant’s Causeway, A.P. Indy, Arch and Tapit as well as clips of Teams Valor and Denali and Secret Heart.

Click below to watch :

CURLIN
GIANT’S CAUSEWAY
A.P. INDY
ARCH
TAPIT
TEAMS VALOR AND DENALI
SECRET HEART

(Footage courtesy of Alec Hogg)

NATIONAL YEARLING SALE 2011 IN PERSPECTIVE

National Yearling Sale 2011
(Photo : Heather Morkel)

“For Major Sales, 2011 The Best Year Ever”

Karel Miedema
Sporting PostThe Cape Premiere Yearling Sale took many of the best yearlings away from the National Yearling Sale. To keep the numbers up, some 200 yearlings who normally wouldn’t have made the grade appeared in the National sale catalogue. No wonder the numbers at Nationals were down on previous years. Yet when put in proper context, the major sales of 2011 make it the best year South Africa has ever had. Ever!

At Nationals last year, 490 yearlings averaged R326k, with a median of 225k. At Nationals this year, 472 yearlings averaged R244k, with a median of 150k. It’s wrong, though, to make a straight comparison. As much as a third of the 2011 catalogue was made up of yearlings who didn’t belong at Nationals. Buyers took note and bid accordingly.

So how do we sensibly assess 2011, compared to previous years?

One way is to take the 214 yearlings sold at the Cape Premier Sale, and add the highest prices from the National Sale to get to a comparable number of yearlings sold to that of Nationals in 2010. Another way is to lump the Cape Premier Sale and National Sale together, and then from the top-price down pick a number of yearlings comparable to those sold at Nationals in 2010. Either way 2011 beats 2010 hands down. Both scenarios give an average price over R380k, compared to R326k last year. The median prices for the two scenarios are 260k and 275k - well above the 225k recorded last year.

When split by sex it’s much the same. The colts of 2011 average over R400k (vs 373 in 2010), with a median of 275k and 300k (vs 250k in 2010). The fillies average is 340k (vs 267k in 2010), with a median of 250k for both scenarios (vs 200k in 2010).

Percentage-wise those are increases of 15% and more in all cases. Looking back in time, the previous ‘best’ year for Nationals was 2008, with an average of R398k and a median of 260k - both below our double-handed 2011 scenarios.

No doubt the unqualified success of the Cape Premier Yearling Sale deserves the kudus. But overall speaking there’s every reason to be pleased with what has been achieved in 2011 at our two major sales.

The tables below shows the last 2 years of sales and a list of yearling millionaires, how they’re bred, who bought and who sold.

NATIONAL YEARLING SALE 2011
In Perspective

Scenario	Yearlings	Average (ZAR)	Median
National Yearling Sale 2010	490	326,000	225,000
National Yearling Sale 2011	472	244,000	150,000
All Cape Premiere Yearling Sale 2011 and All National Yearling Sale 2011	686	296,000	200,000
All Cape Premiere Yearling Sale 2011 and Top National Yearling Sale 2011	488	380,000	260,000
Top of all Cape Premiere Yearling Sale 2011 and National Yearling Sale 2011	479	387,000	275,000

Colts	Yearlings	Average (ZAR)	Median
National Yearling Sale 2010	273	373,000	250,000
National Yearling Sale 2011	258	262,000	175,000
All Cape Premiere Yearling Sale 2011 and All National Yearling Sale 2011	397	323,000	200,000
All Cape Premiere Yearling Sale 2011 and Top National Yearling Sale 2011	295	405,000	275,000
Top of all Cape Premiere Yearling Sale 2011 and National Yearling Sale 2011	287	414,000	300,000

Fillies	Yearlings	Average (ZAR)	Median
National Yearling Sale 2010	217	267,000	200,000
National Yearling Sale 2011	214	221,000	150,000
All Cape Premiere Yearling Sale 2011 and All National Yearling Sale 2011	289	258,000	175,000
All Cape Premiere Yearling Sale 2011 and Top National Yearling Sale 2011	193	343,000	250,000
Top of all Cape Premiere Yearling Sale 2011 and National Yearling Sale 2011	192	246,000	250,000

NATIONAL YEARLING SALE 2011
Lots R1 Million Plus 

Price (ZAR)	Lot	Sex	Sire	Dam	Damsire	Buyer	Vendor
3,200,000	196	Filly	Jet Master	Jalberry	Jallad	OA Ferraris Racing	Varsfontein Stud (Agent)
3,000,000	352	Colt	Jet Master	Promisefrommyheart	Elliodor	A Papageorgiou	Varsfontein Stud
2,100,000	217	Colt	Trippi	La Patoneur	Badger Land	Mike Bass Racing	Klawervlei Stud
2,000,000	421	Filly	Giant’s Causeway	Skyline Drive View	Distant View	Mayfair Speculators	Summerhill Sales
1,700,000	189	Colt	Jet Master	Island Squaw	Al Mufti	Form Bloodstock	The Alchemy
1,600,000	244	Filly	Nayef	Letsimpress	General Monash	Blandford / Mrs R Beck	Drakenstein Stud
1,400,000	304	Colt	Silvano	National Vixen	National Assembly	Form Bloodstock	Riverton Stud
1,350,000	151	Filly	Fort Wood	Gypsy Queen	Royal Chalice	Varsfontein Stud	Rathmor Stud
1,250,000	316	Colt	Giant’s Causeway	Nuance	Rainbow Quest	Good-Hope Racing	Wilgerbosdrift
1,200,000	599	Colt	Jet Master	Bushra	Badger Land	John Freeman	Varsfontein Stud
1,100,000	578	Colt	Silvano	Badger’s Gift	Badger Land	Mike Bass Racing	Riverwold Stud
1,000,000	546	Colt	Western Winter	Akinfeet	Fort Wood	Form Bloodstock	Lammerskraal Stud
1,000,000	268	Colt	Jet Master	Majestic Guest	Northern Guest	Park Bloodstock	Klipdrift Stud (Agent)
1,000,000	234	Colt	Jet Master	Larapinta	Al Mufti	Rainbow Beach Trading	Ascot Stud
1,000,000	221	Colt	Jet Master	Lady Caroloty	Southern Halo	Knut Haug	Highdown Stud
1,000,000	176	Colt	Tiger Ridge	Ilha Da Vitoria	Candy Stripes	Form Bloodstock	Wilgerbosdrift

Extract from Sporting Post

2011 NATIONAL YEARLING SALE : DAY 3

Derreck David with Lot 421 Blue Ridge Mountain
(Photo : Heather Morkel)

EMPERORS PALACE NATIONAL YEARLING SALE
15 - 17 April 2011

The final day of the 2011 Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale started well when the Summerhill Sales-consigned lot 421, Blue Ridge Mountain, was knocked down for R2 million to Markus Jooste. The beautiful chestnut is by champion US sire, Giant’s Causeway, out of a Distant View mare, and hails from the same family as last year’s Cartier Champion 2-year-old filly, Misty For Me.

The Sale closed on a high when lot 599, the penultimate lot on sale, was knocked for R1.2 million to John Freeman. The chestnut colt, consigned by Varsfontein Stud, is named True Master. A son of Jet Master, he is out of G3 winner Bushra.

Overall, the sale posted an aggregate of R115,310,000. Of the 600 yearlings catalogued, 557 went through the ring, and just 65 failed to find homes.

The sale’s average price was R244,301, down slightly from last year’s average of R324,557. No fewer than 16 yearlings made R1 million plus. The top priced yearling to sell was Heart’s Content, lot 196. The filly, consigned by Varsfontein, is by champion sire Jet Master out of the stakes winning mare, Jalberry.

Varsfontein Stud enjoyed a fantastic sale, and ended up as the leading vendors by aggregate. Their 17 lots to sell made R7.055 million, and averaged R415,000.

Leading vendor, by average, was Varsfontein Stud (As Agent), they sold seven yearlings for an average price of R706,429.

Form Bloodstock were the most prolific buyers, and purchased 20 yearlings for an aggregate of R10.2 million.

Champion sire, Jet Master, enjoyed a truly phenomenal sale. The great horse sold 35 of his 37 yearlings on offer, for an aggregate of R21,325,000, making him the leading stallion by aggregate. He averaged R609,286, which made him the leading sire by average, with five or more sold.

TBA’s CEO, Jan Naude, was resigned about the sale, “These prices are a realistic reflection of the economy. There was plenty of good money for the top horses, but the middle market struggled.”

Extract from Bloodstock South Africa